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Rain blanketed most of the eastern Texas Panhandle and a flash flood warning was issued for Carson, Armstrong, Hall and Donley counties Wednesday morning as showers moved southeast across the region, the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

A mesonet weather station in Clarendon reported 2.47 inches of rainfall within an hour Wednesday morning, and the weather service received a report of flood water sweeping a vehicle from the highway on U.S. Highway 287 five miles northwest of Clarendon, meteorologist Chris Morris said.

“These storms are producing heavy rainfall at a very impressive rate,” Morris said.

The weather service has received reports of dime-sized hail and 50-mph winds from Wednesday morning storms but the main safety threat these storms present is the potential for flash flooding, Morris said.

Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves said homes in Darrouzett, Follett, Higgins and Lipscomb have lost electricity after the storm took out 12 power poles between Booker and Darrouzett.

“We won’t be able to restore service until the poles are replaced,” Reeves said in an email. “With the stormy and muddy conditions, it will likely be late afternoon, but we’ll do everything we can to speed this up.”

Weather-related outages also struck 3,056 customers in southeast Amarillo for about a half hour Wednesday morning, with power restored by 9:45 a.m.

Heavy rain was reported about 8:30 a.m. extending on a line six miles southeast of Goodnight to eight miles south of Lelia Lake, the weather service said. Areas effected by the downpour include Pantex, Panahndle, White Deer, Skellytown, Groom, Clarendon, Hedley, Howardwick, Lelia Lake and Greenbelt Lake.

The weather service said Farm-to-Market Road 206 was flooded 3 miles north of Panhandle where motorists were stranded. Public safety officials warn drivers to avoid areas of high water in the area.

Hail and strong winds haven’t been a big problem with the thunderstorms, but some locations could see rain totals of 1 inch or more, the weather service said. The strongetst patch of storms was moving toward the Childress area.

The rain is expected to move out of the area by the afternoon hours, but there is a 20 percent chance of more showers and thunderstorms Wednesday evening, the weather service said.